Well in the Lead
by Spirals95
Summary: #25 and #26 of the Techorse series. Captain Arbiter shifts his responsibility of reforming three pranksters off to Techorse in hopes of getting the day off. Techorse doesn't view himself as a great leader, but hopes to help his new friends learn how to use their talents appropriately. Will he keep them out of trouble?
1. Chapter 1

Well in the Lead

Techorse series: #25

By Spirals95

* * *

In the basement of Canterlot Castle, three ponies of roughly the same age sat on the chilling floor of a gloomy cage built to hold prisoners who could ordinarily escape by magical means. The enchanted prison cell was built in the middle of the floor of the aging basement, and a leaky pipe running along the ceiling dripped water at a monotonous rate on the top of the cage that might to the ears be just as bad as the torture of being forced to live in the dungeon. It might very well have seemed that every prisoner of the castle might have to face such terrible living conditions. However, the truth was that this one cell was the only poorly maintained holding place in the entire castle, all the others had the accommodations required by Equestrian law, namely cleanliness and enough daylight to prevent the psychological problems associated with not getting enough of the light and warmth of the sun.

The enclosure, not even legal to keep circus animals in, was six feet high, and 15 feet on each side, with an iron floor and ceiling that was slightly rusted from the pipe dripping on it over the course of several months. Only a few plain white mattresses on the floor provided any comfort from the icy metal floor, which felt terrible on the hooves. Sitting facing away from each other on these mattresses were the three prisoners, each one frowning but trying not to lose hope of getting out of their current situation.

The first prisoner was a unicorn mare with a darker orange coat. Her mane was in a curled style, both brown and light pink curls, but each curl had several individual hairs out of place that indicated high levels of stress. On her flank, three equidistant flashlights pointing southeast were crowded together. Her sad blue eyes were facing only on the floor

The second trapped pony, a somewhat burly pegasus colt with a light brown coat and green eyes to go with it, pouted and looked around, blaming anyone but himself for his situation. His short mane of goldenrod yellow was rather short cut, and stood up until his head, where it laid down in a part to his left ear. The cutie mark he bore, a paintbrush sitting on a brick, didn't seem to match his bad attitude.

Of the three incarcerated ponies, the third one was perhaps the one that made the most sense to question, by appearance. He was a pegasus along with his cellmate, but he was a darkish grey in color, almost graphite. His amber eyes were pointed straight forward, out of the cell and off into space, as he thought about the future. The pony's mane, a combination of solid black mixed with cool ice blue, was cut in a rather standard way, but the alternation of the colors ran vertically. An unusual cutie mark was on his flank, the image of a solid black heart, with a small white dove fixed in the center of it. In addition to his physical appearance, the pegasus wore a small pendant on his neck, made from a thin gold chain, and a centerpiece carved in the shape of a constricted oval. The center of the pendant contained a shimmering ruby, with a mysterious darkened spot stirring about inside the gem, perhaps a flaw during its formation in Equestria's crust.

A door creaked open in the dungeon, and the three looked up to see who would enter. The light from the hallway outside of the containment area shone in, and the trapped ponies' eyes stung slightly as they attempted to adjust to the sudden change. Into the room stepped Captain Arbiter, a nasty grin on his face, his cape fluttering slightly in the cold air that flowed out of the room and into the hallway behind him. Arbiter casually turned on a small electrical switch, illuminating the room in the light from an overhead electric chandelier that should have remained on for the poor prisoners.

"Good news." Arbiter said to them, walking forward, "We're not going to be keeping you here any longer."

"You're not?" asked the one mare with great hope in her voice.

Arbiter continued with his smile, enjoying his duty way too much, "Would I lie? You're not going to be kept locked up a moment more."

"Oh, finally!" said the brown pegasus with relief, "I can't wait to get outside again and stretch my wings!"

"…If you have the strength, that is." Arbiter said to finish for him, "You see, I've decided the best punishment for your crimes is to have you whipped, thirty strokes apiece."

The three ponies' mouths either fell open in horror. The Captain was going to beat them terribly with a whip, and it was almost certain that ugly scars would follow as a reminder of what they had done.

"You're going to whip us?" cried the unicorn pony first, "Please don't!"

The other two looked at each other with fear, and started to believe that maybe staying in the cell would be a better option than the corporal punishment they were about to receive. Arbiter had stopped smiling at this point, and looked rather coldly at his prisoners. To him, a whip across the back was guaranteed to teach the three troublemakers in front of them to never pull the stunts that they had again. Of course, whipping another pony so many times wouldn't bring him that much enjoyment, but it was his duty to enforce the laws of Equestria when cases were brought before him.

"Don't we get the right to a trial first?" whimpered the dark gray pony, "Why do you get to sentence us?"

"Each of you was delivered to me by your parents to be placed under my watch." Explained Arbiter sternly, "You may have only caused minor grievances, but this is to keep you from causing trouble ever again!"

Captain Arbiter was interrupted by a gentle cough from behind him. He looked back over his back and said sharply, "What?!"

He calmed down significantly after he realized who he had just shouted at. An upset Princess Luna had snuck up behind him, her plasma-blue mane flowed behind her as she walked in.

"Is this what modern Captains keep in their private, royalty-issued storage?" she asked in a rather angry tone, looking over the three captives, "Arbiter, I am ashamed in you! You are supposed to take any prisoners and put them in the cells where they won't get pneumonia, unlike this dank place!"

"Princess Celestia ordered me to watch over these three, and I have only followed my orders!" he lied.

In reality, although Celestia had asked Arbiter to keep the troublemakers in a secure location, she meant one of the regular detainment areas, not his storage unit. Arbiter simply interpreted the order liberally to justify keeping his prisoners in such a terrible place.

Princess Luna did not buy into the obvious lie, and said, "You're known for cruelty, Arbiter. I suggest you figure out a way to get them out of this situation."

"They're not going anywhere, each of them has committed a crime, and they must pay for it!" he insisted.

The alicorn rolled her eyes, and said, "And just _what_ monstrosities have these three done? They look only as old as Twilight Sparkle. I have my doubts that such young ponies could do something so horrible."

Arbiter pointed to the unicorn mare and said, "This is Raider. She's a kleptomaniac, a habitual thief, your majesty. She stole lawn decorations just for fun, and then every month, would leave the valuables in her town's hall. After the items were returned, she's make it a game to steal them again and again for her own amusement."

Luna nodded, and turned her attention to the brown pegasus with the odd golden hair.

"And who might this be?" she asked.

"This is Mortar, a graffiti artist caught painting a picture of Celestia wearing a dunce cap!" he said.

"It was a party hat, I swear!" protested Mortar, "I just wasn't able to finish it before this guy's guards nabbed me!"

"Nopony asked you to talk!" shouted Arbiter.

Mortar sank back along with his two companions. Princess Luna tried not to snicker at the thought of her sister being drawn with such a silly choice of hat, either way.

Arbiter turned and pointed with his leg to the last pony, "This one is Shadow Breeze. Mr. Breeze was caught manipulating shadows somehow to give the illusion that a dragon was coming to attack groups of hikers in the mountains near his city. Eventually when they caught him he was turned over to me."

In her wisdom, the princess of the night said softly, "Arbiter, don't you suppose that these 'crimes', are really just the trouble that ponies who've recently left home cause to try and gain some enjoyment out of life?"

Arbiter may not have always understood Luna's mix of standard and older Equine English, but he knew the point she was getting at. The princess understood the troublemaking not as a grievous crime the way he did, but actually as a coping mechanism. Still, it seemed as if she agreed there was a way to teach the three not to use pranks to cope with leaving home.

"So… maybe they didn't do very terrible things." He agreed reluctantly, "But that still doesn't excuse them entirely, there are some laws about causing trouble, although they're usually settled by public apology. However, this is a special case because they are here with us!"

"I concur." Said the princess, "So how shall we deal with them appropriately?"

Arbiter scanned over the three with his eye, noting their fearful looks, and their silent prayers to not be whipped. Deciding that there was indeed more than two options in this scenario, he thought up a great idea to teach the three some discipline.

"I know just the thing! I'll make fine soldier ponies out of each of them. Raider can be used to steal things from any future enemies, Shadow Breeze can become a master of keeping our numbers concealed, and Mortar can design propaganda to make the enemy's leader look bad!" he said, thinking about the "great" chores of war he had in mind.

Princess Luna brought up a silver-shoed hoof and planted it on her face. After stopping her facehoof, she said to the captain with much frustration,

"Arbiter, conscription has been outlawed in Equestria for over eight hundred years! Forcing these poor citizens to become soldiers is barbaric. Let me offer a suggestion for thee."

The Captain sighed heavily before finally agreeing to listen.

"I propose, after talking about these three with sister, to have them form a team dedicated to service for other ponies! Soon they will learn that helping their fellow Equestrian brings double the joy of pranking them!" said the princess loudly, near shouting.

"A team?" asked Arbiter with disgust, "That I lead?"

"Correct." she said, smiling proudly at such a good plan.

Now, Arbiter may have wanted to see justice done, but trying to convert three annoying ponies into model citizens would practically be torture for him. It would also be way too much work for what he had planned today. Today was the day he was going to go into The Domain, and attempt to spend an afternoon with Limpwing. He was going to offer to get her coffee and a danish, along with a long conversation about how wonderful the various swords Equestria had produced were. This idea of having to babysit the troublemakers would ruin his plans for the day, possibly the week. But in his mind, Arbiter thought of something he could do to both ditch this terrible responsibility and get to Limpwing at the same time.

"It's just…" he said, a little disappointed, "I'm a terrible stallion for the job. I kept these three locked up, and now, there's no way they'll ever trust me!"

"I suppose you're right." Said Luna, looking sadly at the three ponies who were clearly terrified of Arbiter.

"However, I do know just the colt who could turn these three around!" he said, pretending to have to think about it for a while by scratching his chin with his hoof.

The three behind the princess and the swordscolt looked at each other and wondered what they were talking about. They were smiling however, as it looked like they were getting a light sentence of community service for their troublemaking. To the ponies, Arbiter's foul treatment of them was just a scare tactic.

"Techorse would be the right choice." Continued Arbiter, "I believe that he, with his sense of justice, would agree that turning these three into a team would be the best choice. He'll have them do a few small chores to make up for their harmless pranks, and then I'll have each of them sent home to their parents."

Princess Luna had known well about Techorse, but hadn't had more than a few short conversations with him. She did know, however, that Arbiter was right about choosing him to lead the team.

"Then take these three to Ponyville, and give Techorse command!" ordered Luna, "I'm going to return to the throne room in the meantime."

"Yes m'am!" said Arbiter.

"Oh, thank you your majesty!" said Raider tearfully, "We're not going to be whipped because you stepped in there!"

Princess Luna, who was just about to leave the room, turned back and gave Arbiter a nasty look that pierced his soul. She was furious that Arbiter was going to beat her subjects, after everything that she had been through. Back before her banishment, she had witnessed a whipping as a younger mare. Luna was overjoyed upon her return to Equestria when she learned that annoying exercises had replaced the cruelty.

But here was Captain Arbiter, who had even dared to joke about such a terrible punishment. She was furious at him for his insistence on bringing "justice" through pain and punishment. Her eyes continued to penetrate his remaining one.

Arbiter shuffled about a bit in place, and started making excuses, "It was a joke your majesty. I'm aware that whipping has also been banned, but I figured they wouldn't listen to me unless I threatened them…"

Princess Luna reared up on her hind legs, her eyes glowed a bright white, and her body gave off streams of searing electrical energy from her rage.

"You'd better not lay a _hoof_ on these three!" boomed Luna, "Must I remind you that you've already tried to put Techorse's head in a basket _twice_! He may have pity on you for the loss of your eye, but that event is still no excuse for all this cruelty. Should I hear you've brought pain and suffering to these ponies, you'll be serving as our castle's newest statue, and that's a promise, Arbiter Axechop!"

She then stormed out of the dark room, dispelling the burning plasma and leaving Arbiter stunned for once. Even though he had the knowledge in his head that princess Celestia wouldn't authorize a use of the Elements on him, Luna would probably still figure out something terrible to do to him. He realized either way that Princess Luna had finally grown weary of his more traditional way of running things. Now he had to hope she didn't figure out he was dumping his task on Techorse.

After Princess Luna was well out of earshot, however, he gave his captives one final warning,

"Listen you three. I'm going easy on you by letting my… _friend_ make you a working team. However, if I hear so much as a single word from Techorse that you screwed up, you'll be put in a regular prison for as long as possible."

"We'll cooperate!" said Shadow Breeze, "Honest!"

"Good, then come with me, and I'll take you to Techorse."

* * *

Techorse was in his laboratory, about to put the last computer chip in a circuit board he had been working on for several weeks. Wires and parts of various color codes were scattered around him on the floor and stainless steel countertop he had been working on. With a soldering gun in one robotic hand and a screwdriver in the other, he carefully finished welding the chip to the green chunk of plastic and computer parts. He then dropped the tools on the table, and carefully picked up the circuit board to inspect it, making sure not a diode was out of place.

"Great!" he said to himself, "With any luck this will calculate the angle and trajectory correctly so that I can finally try at that water cannon! Cloudsdale will appreciate the extra water for weather making if I can get it to work."

He looked slowly to the left at the large device he'd been working on for a long time. The machine resembled a giant telescope almost, the barrel off-center of a large cyan-painted turntable. A large air compressor sat on the side of the barrel, used to force the water out as powerfully as possible. At the base of the machine was a small control panel consisting of just a few levers and a small start button, the computer Techorse had just finished would be placed inside the device and used to aim. The only missing piece seemed to be some sort of intake pipe for the water to enter the machine.

The speaker system in the room sounded the doorbell in the laboratory, alerting Techorse to visitors. He placed his newly built circuit board down on the work table, and proceeded out into the hallway of the castle basement. After climbing up the spiral staircase that led into the lobby, he found the door control panel, and pressed the large "open" button with one of his robotic hands. The metal arms retreated into the saddle with a loud click, and the doors on the gadget shut tight. Techorse preferred not to freak out visitors with the arms, as they didn't look very natural on a quadruped, even if they were simply a tool.

When the two massive wooden doors had creaked open, Captain Arbiter stood in the doorway with the three ponies he had captured. They were all tied together, front legs to front legs, with rope to keep them from escaping. Despite it being a sunny and warm mid-morning, the three had sad expressions on their faces, most likely from the constricting ropes around their limbs.

"Hey Captain, what brings you here?" asked Techorse, a little surprised.

"Techorse, lad!" said Arbiter, obviously faking joy, "I've got something splendid you can do to please Princess Celestia!"

Techorse was a mechanical genius, but sometimes gave other ponies who had blatant character flaws way too much credit. He knew in this case that Arbiter was likely upset he couldn't do anything more than tie up the three miserable captives.

"All right, Arby. What did she have in mind for me?" he asked, pretending not to be suspicious.

The Captain cleared his throat and ruffled his wing feathers before continuing proudly, "These three ponies have been caught causing trouble around their hometown, and the princesses both think that they deserve better than to be thrown into the dungeon!"

"…_And you don't. So you're upset_." thought Techorse, knowing how much Arbiter loved punishing others.

The strong pegasus continued, "Princess Celestia and Princess Luna have both requested that you be the leader of a team! These three will be your teammates, and together you will solve the problems of Ponyville until they are thoroughly refined. I'm sure at the end of this they'll have better things to do than to prank others."

Techorse and Arbiter were about to fool each other, although neither knew what the other one was thinking. From Arbiter's perspective, he was about to get a day off by tricking Techorse into taking on his duty. But from Techorse's perspective, this was a golden opportunity to once again prove to Arbiter that justice is best dealt through service and redemption, not through brute force. Techorse never got pleasure out of making fun of others, in fact, he really like Arbiter's dedication to protecting the princesses, and even his own guards so that they would be able to go home to their wives and foals. However, he knew that Arbiter's penchant for violence needed to be pecked away at with as many examples of changed lives as possible!

There was just one problem, however, and it struck Techorse like a flying brick.

"Wait, I'm supposed to be their leader?" he asked, shocked, "They're my _teammates_?"

"Is there a problem, Techorse?" smirked Arbiter.

Techorse didn't view himself as a good leader, he relied almost entirely on Twilight in a team situation for executive decisions. Yet for some reason, when forced to take on leadership roles, he did well enough for the situation. The problem was that now, the fates of the three ponies before him, all the same age as he was, was going to be determined by his leadership. Techorse was tempted to decline the task, but he just couldn't stand the thought of Arbiter winning and locking up the prisoners again.

"I'll do it." He said proudly, standing up strong, "You'll see, Arby."

Captain Arbiter laughed subtly, and said, "I'll be back tomorrow. If any of them gives you any trouble, or if they haven't improved, they'll be going in the dungeon for a very long time."

Arbiter removed a scroll from underneath his cape, and gave the document over to Techorse, who accepted it with his robotic arms. The captain was used to them, but the three pranksters were awed at the strange saddle on Techorse's back. They wondered if it was an enchanted object, like the ones they had read about in school.

"Here's a scroll containing a biography on these three criminals." Said Arbiter, "I'll be visiting somepony until tomorrow, I've got a hotel room rented out."

"Ok, thanks. Take care Arbiter." Replied Techorse.

Arbiter spread his wings, and flew off into the west against the breeze, off for The Domain to go and visit Limpwing as planned. Techorse watched him leave via flight before turning to the three silent captives.

"Let's get those ropes off you." He said.

Working carefully with his robotic arms and hands, Techorse untied each knot until the three had their legs free. They stepped up and down gently with them, glad to finally be out of their ropes. Each one felt a tiny hint of freedom in their souls.

"Thanks, Techorse!" said Raider, "I thought Arbiter was going to have you parade us around in those!"

"Yeah." Added Mortar, "I'm surprised you didn't expect us to try and run away!"

"What?" said Techorse, disappointed, "I've known Arbiter for a while now, and he loves to be mean to ponies he views as being criminals. I could tell the moment I saw you guys that you probably just carved your names into something, nothing too bad."

Shadow Breeze walked up to Techorse and said, "You can find out what Arbiter's accusing us of in that scroll he gave you. By the way, the three of us have been friends since school. This whole idea of us all being a team is pretty cool! Especially since we're going to be working with the inventor of Ponyville."

"Hey, how'd you know that?" asked Techorse, surprised.

"My mom owns a blender made by you." Answered the pegasus, "Your picture is printed at the back of the instruction manual as part of your guarantee your stuff will work."

"I'm glad your mother likes my blender line." Smiled Techorse, glad to hear positive reviews about his work.

"Well that and you're pretty much known for helping princess Celestia's students defeat the invasion last year." Shadow added with embarrassment, wishing he'd have gone with that first.

Techorse chuckled, and said "I see. Anyways, are you all hungry?"

"Starving!" answered Raider, "My stomach's been growling for a day now."

"Oh no, Arbiter didn't starve you did he?" asked Techorse, mortified.

"Not exactly." Admitted Mortar, "We got some boxed military rations. They're pretty bad though."

To Techorse, this was actually a positive sign. Arbiter hadn't let another pony go hungry despite wanting to see them be punished. Maybe some improvement was going to happen in the Captain's life.

"Let's have lunch together before we decide what to do first as a team." Suggested Techorse, "I hope you like pasta and vegetables, I don't eat hay like a lot of ponies do."

"Hay's not my favorite either." Admitted Raider, "But trust me when I say we're thankful you're giving us something edible."

* * *

Techorse smiled, and stepped to one side to let the three in. He walked them down the hallway, past the library, and into the dining room, where he seated them all at one side. When he returned, he went into the kitchen and helped his robot servant prepare the food. They made together a large helping of steaming pasta noodles, topped with fresh tomato sauce bought locally. This delicious meal was placed into a yellow ceramic serving bowl. PAL had to help Techorse bring out the other item on the menu, a garden salad made from crisp lettuce, tomatoes, mushrooms, and yellow bell peppers. Together they managed to get the midday meal out to the table, and then PAL left, leaving behind three very surprised ponies.

"Wow! Is he a golem?" asked Shadow Breeze, "Did you make him?"

"He's a robot." Explained Techorse, "It seems I'm always having to explain this, but I guess Equestria doesn't have another robot. PAL is made from electronic parts and metal, but he doesn't run off of magic, he runs off of a list of instructions that he can modify himself."

"So he's electric instead? Cool! Can we eat now?" summarized Mortar, hoping to get down to stuffing himself as soon as possible.

"Of course, let's finish lunch, and then we can talk!" said Techorse, reaching for the salad dish.

Shadow Wing and Mortar ate like they owned hollow legs, nearly finishing half of the massive bowl of pasta on their own, without taking that much of the salad. Raider and Techorse were a little more balanced in their diet, but overall the four enjoyed a nice lunch together, a vast improvement over the prison food they'd had earlier.

"Wow, thanks so much for the great food, Techorse." Complimented Raider as they left the table, "So what's on our agenda for today?"

"First of all." Interrupted Mortar, "I think we need a team name, and Techorse here should get to pick it."

Techorse looked around and said with a lack of confidence, "Well, I don't know about a team name…"

"How about Team Tech?" proposed Raider, "Let's name it after him!"

"I agree with the naming idea, but maybe it should be Mr. Horse's Fighters." stated Mortar, "I might come up with some art for a logo later."

"Yeah, great ideas!" agreed Shadow Breeze, bringing his hoof down on the ground, "What do you think of that name, Tech?"

Techorse answered, "For the record, my first name is Techorse, I don't have a last name anymore. All my documents are signed 'Techorse X'."

Shadow Breeze gave him a funny look, as in his mind, who didn't have a last name?

But not wanting to hurt Techorse's feelings, he said, "Well, I guess we don't really need a team name. After all, we're only going to be working together for a short while. Let's just skip it and get to work."

"That makes a little more sense." Agreed Raider, scratching her head, "So now that we've got that all settled, what are we going to do first?"

"Let's go to the backyard, and I'll give you a good idea as to our plan of action." Said Techorse, "But keep in mind guys, this is only for a day or two. We really don't need to make this such a big deal, we just have to get you into places of service so you're not in trouble all the time for pranking ponies!"

Soon the four were gathered in the garden in the rear of the castle, the fountain still bubbling with water brought up from the ground underneath, and the birds signing in the warm day. Several plants were growing alongside the castle, and Shadow Breeze was inspecting each and every one of them.

"I'm sorry!" he said, focusing his attention back on Techorse when he heard him cough, "I just really love plants, and the animals that eat them. Growing houseplants was kind of my hobby before I got kicked out of my house."

Techorse frowned and asked, "What happened?"

The pegasus walked forward and explained, "You see Tech, my original name was Spirit Breeze. My parents wanted me to be a musician to perform in front of royal audiences. But I didn't want to go into music at all! One day, I was given this magic amulet you see here around my neck by a zebra from a distant island. I call it the shadow ruby, because it allows me to control dark-looking energy with my mind. I can not only make shadow puppets and simple tricks with it, but I can also throw small projectiles!"

"That sounds like a really neat enchanted object." Commented Techorse, "But is it the reason why you got into trouble?"

The pegasus hung his head in guilt and said, "Well, yeah. I got my cutie mark for my love of peace when I stopped a fight between my classmates one day. However, I wasn't able to really find an occupation to go with it. So I'd have too much free time, and I'd end up using my shadow amulet to create shadows of dragons in the mountains to scare hikers. They thought they were going to be eaten, and screamed and ran away. It was fun at first, but then I got caught by Arbiter."

"You already looked into _our_ stories." Said Raider on behalf of her and Mortar, "I used my magic to steal things for fun, and Mortar put his artistic side towards drawing graffiti of Celestia."

There was a bit of silence as Techorse thought about what he had heard. It seemed that his new acquaintances had been either abandoned or ignored by their parents, and that they would need care in order to stop responding to their emptiness with the wrong behavior. If there was anyone who understood what it meant to be empty due to a lack of parental care, it was Techorse.

"Don't worry guys." He said to them confidently, "I'm going to take you around Ponyville and have you use your talents in a constructive fashion. That way you won't have to pull pranks to keep yourselves entertained, and you'll be able to start your own careers!"

"Then let's get started!" said Mortar eagerly, "Where to, Techorse?"

Techorse had a plan in his mind to find a job for each of the ponies he had found himself responsible for. The solution in the inventor's mind was to turn around their preferred method of pranking in order to give them a new career path that would fulfill them and use their talents well. Because Mortar had been so eager to get started on the task, Techorse figured it was best to find a way for him to use his talents first.

* * *

Taking the three out west of the town, he brought them to Sweet Apple Acres, and scanned the dozens upon dozens of apple trees, bearing the still-developing fruit of the first growing season. Techorse couldn't find Applejack anywhere amongst the trees, so he gave instructions to his new friends.

"Let's head on over to the barn. I think I have an idea as to what your first works can be!" he instructed, pointing to the red barn on the hillside.

Once they had made it to the oft-rebuilt structure, Techorse opened the door gently and went inside alone to find Applejack. The inside of the barn was somewhat darkened, and the air was a bit stale from the hay soaking up the moisture in the air. Applejack was sitting in the loft of the barn, looking over a magazine laid on the ground in front of her. It was a publication for growers who were having trouble with pests eating their plants, and offered solutions to get rid of them without dangerous pesticides. Applejack had found herself the time to read the magazine since a majority of her trees were not ready for harvesting yet.

"Hey Applejack, it's Techorse!" he called up to her.

She leaned over the wooden platform and looked down at him, her Stetson hat sliding down slightly on her head.

"Oh hey there Techie!" she greeted him, "Is there something you need?"

"I've got three other ponies out here looking for some work. They're trying to get out of having to deal with Arby, so they picked community service. Got any extra chores for us?" he asked.

Applejack was a little reluctant to answer yes, after all, these were complete strangers to her. But she hated Captain Arbiter for what he'd done in the past, and any chance to save those poor souls who had to put up with him was worth it to her.

"Well, the barn here has a few worn-out spots that could use paint. There's also a little weedin' that could be done out by the golden delicious trees!" she finally answered, "Let's get y'all set up."

Soon Mortar was busy giving the west side of the barn a fresh coat of paint from a bucket provided to him, the brush in his teeth as he struggled to cover the raw wood exposed to the air. Raider and Shadow Breeze helped to pluck the dandelions and ground vines clustered around the apple trees, freeing the plants from competition with the pests. Techorse watched Mortar carefully as he made each stroke count, not wasting any paint. As they worked, Big Macintosh was trying to haul a barrel for cider-making season out to the barn. While he approached, the strong worker accidentally stepped on a loose stone in the dirt ground near the barn. The barrel on his back threw him off balance, and the red stallion tripped and landed face-first into the ground. Getting up, he hoped that Techorse and Mortar hadn't seen his accident. But they had, and he hurried off to where he was taking the barrel before they got a chance to laugh at him.

"Hang on." Said Mortar through clenched teeth, putting the paintbrush back in the can.

"What's wrong?" asked Techorse, "Big Macintosh will be fine, he's a tough guy."

"No, it's not that." Answered Mortar, shaking his head, "I gotta draw what just happened! Do you have a piece of paper and a pencil?"

Techorse's battle saddle opened at the sides, and out came the robotic arms, one holding a yellow pencil freshly sharpened, and the other a small sheet of paper with holes punched at the margins. He handed the materials to Mortar and watched as the colt put the pencil in his teeth and went to work. After about 10 minutes of furiously scribbling away at the office paper, Mortar put the pencil down on the paper and pointed at it with a hoof. Techorse stepped next to him, and took a closer look. It was a stylized, but still vaguely realistic drawing of Big Macintosh slipping on the rock as had happened earlier. The scene was both hilarious in its slapstick nature and in the sense that it didn't really portray any pain, leaving the comedy behind.

"I think I know exactly what you should be doing instead of graffiti." Said Techorse while looking Mortar in the eyes, "Arbiter's note told me that you were caught drawing a silly picture of Princess Celestia that was just like this one. I bet if you went to a newspaper publisher, you could get a job as a cartoonist. You could draw silly drawings like this all day, everypony would see them in the comics section of the newspaper, and you would have a decent job!"

"Do you really think they'd give me a job?" asked the brown stallion, "Aren't there already enough cartoonists?"

Techorse answered honestly, "Trust me Mortar, these drawings you do are funny, and the newspaper companies know funny comics sell more papers. All you have to do is draw some more of these to show what you can do, and you'll get involved with a paper pretty quickly."

"I can finally prove to my parents my cutie mark means something." He muttered, rolling up the paper.

Techorse frowned, and asked, "Your parents thought your cutie mark didn't mean anything?"

"Well, no." he answered tragically, "They always thought art wasn't a real job, just a hobby."

The pegasus then smiled brightly and added, "But maybe when I'm making some money from this, they'll change their minds."

"That's the idea." Cheered Techorse.

Applejack came upon them, and stared at the painted wall of the barn. Noticing a small area that had not been coated, she picked up the brush herself and finished the job to her liking. After replacing the brush back in the paint can, she turned to Mortar and asked,

"Now that the barn's all painted, you're pretty much done here. Won't be any more chores today, unless ya like cooking." She said.

Mortar presented Applejack with the now rolled-up cartoon and said, "I drew this cartoon of your brother, and I want you to have it. Thanks to his little accident I figured out something good I can do with my passion. "

Applejack placed the scrolled paper down on the ground and unrolled it with a hoof. She laughed at the sight of her brother's exaggerated slip in the drawing. After enjoying the moment, she rolled the paper back up again, and tucked it underneath of her hat.

"Thanks!" she said, "Big Macintosh is never gonna live this down!"

The other two had caught up to them at this point, and Raider announced, "We finally got rid of all the weeds, Applejack."

She was covered in several spots of filth from picking the weeds out, and Shadow Breeze had fared no better, although his darker coat hid the patches of dirt better.

"Thanks for all of the help." Said Applejack, "Now why don't you three go on down to the farmhouse and get that dirt out of your manes? I'll be there soon."

They agreed and walked away for the farmhouse, while Applejack stayed behind to talk to Techorse.

"You know, most times I wouldn't be accepting any help." She admitted, "But I'd hate to see Arbiter give 'em a whuppin'. You will make sure he doesn't, won't you Techie?"

"That's what this is all about, Applejack. I'm trying to get Arbiter to see that he doesn't need to beat sense into ponies by punishing them so harshly. I'm also trying to make three new friends here as well, they're just like us and could use more friends."

"I think so too." Agreed Applejack, "Now let's go get a snack, and I'll see you off."

What the Apples called "snacks" roughly translated as a full meal to anypony outside of their family. Sandwiches, Apple pies, cookies, lemonade and iced tea were given to Techorse and his team, and they were feeling a little sick from the amount of sugar they had eaten as they left the farm. After passing through the white wooden fences, they re-entered Ponyville and continued on their mission to get Raider and Shadow Breeze new jobs.

* * *

The sky over The Domain was cloudless, a real treat for Arbiter and Limpwing as they enjoyed a nice conversation over a cup of tea in the outdoor seating area of a small café. Each of the white tables was covered with a blue tablecloth, checkered in pattern. There were no umbrellas on the tables, instead a clear vase of fresh lilies sat in the center of each one, filling the air with a nice floral scent. Some of the other patrons drinking tea were staring at Arbiter, after all, it was unusual to ever see a pony wearing an eyepatch. But Arbiter could care less what others actually thought about him, all that mattered was that he was spending time with Limpwing. The large pegasus stallion had picked out a specific color of cape and eyepatch for the day. He had chosen the royal blue for his cape that he did for special occasions, figuring that Limpwing might not be appreciative of entirely black wear. Limpwing could in reality care less, she simply saw Arbiter's choice of colors the same way someone would view a change in shirt color. She had placed her favorite flight goggles on the back of her chair, and her spikey, neon-striped mane was more visible.

"So, dumped off your chores on Tech?" she laughed, "You really don't like that guy, do you?"

Arbiter placed his teacup back on the green ceramic saucer in front of him and answered, "The idea that I 'don't like him' is an understatement, Lieutenant. He's such a goody-goody four shoes it's intolerable. I've never met a pony so dedicated to fairness in my life."

"I know Tech can be a bit preachy, but he's not _that_ bad." Argued the azure mare, "Come on Arby, he gave you a sword for your birthday. I think he likes you."

"He's trying to make me go soft." Explained Arbiter, "But the laws need enforcing, and it's my duty to protect the princesses. I'm not going to let up anytime soon, even if I do get gifts from him."

Limpwing sighed, and wondered if there was a way to get through to Arbiter that he was being a rather unpleasant stallion. To her surprise, her sighing had made Arbiter react.

"What?" he asked, concerned, "I suppose getting a sword in particular from Techorse means something. He must trust me now not to hurt him, at least."

"Arbiter, the reason Techorse gave you the sword is because he thinks you're his friend somehow. I can tell you have absolutely no interest in that, so why not just tell him you hate him?" she said, getting frustrated.

The Captain relaxed a bit and said, "To tell the truth, I don't hate Techorse anymore, I actually have respect for him now. It's just that we're two very different stallions. We get things done differently, and I wish to continue to do things my own way."

"Ah, so nobody tells the captain what to do." Snickered Limpwing, "You're funny."

"Techorse is very good for tasks that require not using any brute force." Continued Arbiter, ignoring her, "Despite those weapons of his, he's very good at dealing with ponies who need to make changes in their lives. I was looking forward to disciplining three ponies his age this morning, but the princess ruined that."

Limpwing continued to poke at him, "So you missed out on making them do push-ups?"

"No, I missed out on using threats, like whipping them and time in prison!" Arbiter grunted, "It would have been a simple solution to the pranksters, but Princess Luna 'reminded' me that whipping was illegal."

Limpwing said quietly to him, "Arbiter, I understand you don't like it when ponies break the rules. Honestly I don't either. But there's a really good reason using the whip was outlawed. It's not because of ponies like Techorse or Luna, it's because it was proven that it wasn't an effective means of disciplining troops. As a fellow officer, I know that when you use pain as a punishment, you simply make your troops resentful of you. It makes the situation worse. So if you had whipped those ponies, they would have learned to hate you and the princesses, and would do even worse things with their lives."

Arbiter's one good eye opened just a bit wider, as he realized the blunder he had made. He slumped down slightly in his chair.

"Then what do you propose I do?" he asked.

"Have you ever heard of the carrot and stick method?" asked Limpwing, hoping Arbiter's mind was fresh to new ideas.

"Can't say I have." he answered truthfully.

"Well, here's how it works." explained Limpwing, "Sometimes what ponies really need is a little motivation. You take something that they want, the carrot, and you offer it to them for doing what you want them to. If they don't listen, that's when you get them with the stick!"

Arbiter looked down at his belt, and pulling back his cape a bit, slightly slid the prized sword Techorse had given him out of its blue wooden sheath.

"I understand entirely why Techorse gave me this sword now. This unique weapon is some kind of prize he gave me for doing something he wanted me to do." He said,"Even though I don't know what that is, it's his carrot. Maybe he's not such…"

He looked up, and noticed Limpwing's smile and half-shut eyes of victory. Arbiter quickly re-sheathed the sword and said,

"Of course, I still don't agree with becoming a pacifist and avoiding violence at all costs. I'll just offer a few more carrots of my own is all."

"Hey, you're pretty awesome with those swords." Said Limpwing, "I wouldn't get rid of that either."

"Well thank you Limpwing." He said, smiling, "You're just as good in battle as well!"

"Glad to hear you're really burying the hatchet with Tech." she stated thoughtfully, "I'd hate it if something were to happen to you because you did something stupid."

Arbiter thought over Princess Luna's threat and tried not to cringe. Limpwing was right, he could remain a strong leader, and fearsome to, if he simply focused his energy on being a little more rewarding to obey. There was a time and place for violence, but as his father used to say, it was best to not use a sledgehammer where a flyswatter would do.

Limpwing and Arbiter paid for their drinks and gratuity, and then moved on to their next activity. They decided to spend the rest of the day at an art museum The Domain had opened a few months ago. As they walked together, Arbiter looked at her and started to feel something in his heart that he really hadn't felt before. He wasn't going to deny what that was, but he also knew it was a little too early to know for sure. In secret, Arbiter sort of believed he was too ugly due to his missing eye to be able to be cared for by another pony. Still, he hoped that time would bring an answer to the questions his heart was putting in his head.

To be continued


	2. Chapter 2

Well in the Lead: Part II

Techorse series: #26

By Spirals95

* * *

Techorse had successfully found a place for Mortar's talents, but he still had two other ponies left to go. It wouldn't be easy establishing a job for a kleptomaniac and someone who liked to scare others, but it had to be done. He simply couldn't settle for the terrible alternative of letting Arbiter lock them up. Despite this, Techorse also understood that this was not simply a contest against the captain, it was also a way for him to make friends with these ponies. Anything he could do to try to improve himself in that area was considered a victory in his book.

As the three walked through Ponyville, Raider had a look around all of the mom and pop stores that made up a majority of the town's economy. Although some were built into the clonial pink and white homes, many of them were simply wooden stands covered in tablecloths of various tints. Now Raider was a raging kleptomaniac, at least from Arbiter's perspective, and a lot of the stores were covered booths that would be extremely easy to steal from once nopony was looking. One particular stand left unguarded was displaying small shiny rings made from silver mined from the mountains. Each of the rings was not placed in an exact order on the table, and that drove Raider absolutely nuts. The unicorn would be unable to help herself if Techorse didn't keep a close eye on her!

"Wow!" she said, a subtle nervous laugh on her throat, "There sure are a lot of… shiny, small objects here."

"Uh oh. Don't even think about it, Raider." Commented Mortar, "If Captain Arbiter hears from Techorse that you took a ring…"

"I don't even want to think about it." Said Shadow Breeze, frowning.

The thought of being locked up for the rest of measurable time made Raider bite her lower lip as she struggled not to try to take the rings. But they seemed so out of place to her, all alone on that table and not in a pile of loot somewhere.

Techorse noticed her sweating buckets from the temptation, and approached her, "Raider, if being near the stores is making you feel upset, let's get you out of the market. It's my fault for not thinking about that and letting you get tempted."

"Yeah, that sounds great. There's gotta be a place in town where I can stop taking things…" she said, nearly shivering.

"I have an idea." Techorse said, then, turning his head to the other two colts, "It'll give you guys something to do as well."

Shadow Breeze nodded, "Sure! We can take a break for a while."

* * *

He brought them to the library to relax and read while he discussed Raider's condition with Twilight. Opening the red wooden door to the tree home, Techorse ushered his companions inside. Twilight had been finishing a personal letter at the time, and moved over to greet them as they entered.

"Hey Tech!" she said, "Brought some friends over to check out some books?"

"Yes, Twilight, this is Raider, Shadow Breeze, and Mortar." He answered, introducing them with a pointing of his leg, "Guys, this is my marefriend Twilight Sparkle."

"Nice to meet you Twilight." said Shadow, stepping forward, "It's pretty cool how you're a librarian and all, my sister decided to do that in my hometown."

"It's great to hear somepony else likes managing books too." Laughed Twilight. She noticed the amulet hanging around his neck and asked with surprise, "Hey, where did you get that shadow manipulation amulet?"

"I found it in a cave while looking for a kickball that we knocked out of the field." The pegasus replied, "My real name is Spirit Breeze, but after I learned how to really work with this thing's magic, I sort of got myself a nickname."

"That's pretty neat, and those amulets are rare! Would you mind showing me a trick, I've always wanted to see one work?" she asked.

Shadow Breeze looked at a nearby wall of the library, and focused on a plain section of it. The amulet around his neck darkened in appearance for a moment, and a small beam of black energy shot out and touched the wall, casting a shadow in the shape of a sprout. With each second, the shadow puppet sprout grew larger until it was a silhouette of a vine scaling the library wall. The shadows then returned to the source beam, and it disappeared inside the amulet.

Twilight looked at him again and said, "Cool, it's just how that book on magical artifacts I finished last month described it!"

As they talked, Raider noticed a set of three books on the east-most shelf. They were all volumes of the same collection, blue-spined books with a gold number at the base. But something was terribly wrong, one of the books was left standing up just a few inches to the right of the other two books. Raider nearly began to squirm from the sight of it, and clenched her jaw shut. As soon as she was sure that Twilight and the others weren't looking at her, the unicorn used her magic to gently slide the book back into place with the others. With her sharp eyes, however, Twilight had noticed the event.

"Thinking about checking out that book?" she asked.

Raider rotated her head quickly and shouted, "I wasn't going to take it, I swear! It was out of place is all!"

"What..?" Trailed Twilight, tilting her head in a confused manner.

"I'm sorry." Apologized Mortar on behalf of his friend, "Raider is a kleptomaniac, and she's worried you might think she was going to take your book."

"Who called her a kleptomaniac?" asked Twilight, still not following.

Techorse explained, "Arbiter described Raider as having stolen a bunch of lawn decorations from ponies around her town. She'd then return everything in one big heap in the middle of the town hall."

"Ugh, I can't help it!" said Raider, her ear twitching, "Those lawn decorations were all out of place, just like those rings at the store, and just like that book!"

Twilight thought for a second about the pieces of information she had just received, and concluded, "Raider, you're not a kleptomaniac."

"I'm not?" she asked, "But Arbiter said…"

"Arbiter is quick to assume things." Noted the lavender mare, "Raider, if you had kleptomania you'd have a huge horde of stolen objects in your house. But instead you gave them back pretty much as soon as you took them. I think what you really have is obsessive compulsive disorder."

"What's that?" she asked,

Twilight tried to give a simple explanation, "I read about it a long time ago. Basically, it's a condition where anything that's out of place bugs you until you absolutely _have_ to fix it. The lawn decorations, the rings, that book, were all out of place and irritating to you."

"So she doesn't have to steal things?" said Shadow, "That's great!"

"But what can I do?" asked Raider, "That sounds permanent."

Techorse suggested, "Well, you could always take some medication to help you with the disorder. I know a pony who might know one, and I'll give you his address later."

"Well yeah, that, but I meant what could I possibly do for a job?" she asked, "There isn't going to be much work out there for a mare who takes things."

"But that can't be true." Twilight laughed, "Look at your cutie mark, three flashlights. Don't you think that means something?"

Raider looked back at her own flank and said, "Well, I got my cutie mark when I found a lost necklace that belonged to my mother in the dark of the woods behind our house. Nopony else could see it outside, but somehow, the small sparkling of the necklace drew me to it."

Raider stared blankly for a few moments at Twilight, who smiled knowingly. Raider slapped her forehead with an orange hoof.

"Oh, duh!" she said, "I could have a service dedicated to finding little mistakes in things, maybe a decorating business. I could start by apprenticing with someone else and figure out if all the paintings and decorations in ponies' homes were level and evenly spaced, and then work up to having a perfect decorating business of my own."

"Way to turn a flaw into an advantage!" said Twilight.

She then added meekly, "Oh, and don't forget, if you ever need support for obsessing over things, write me sometime. I tend to obsess too."

Raider promised, "I will, thanks Twilight!"

"Hey, not to be rude." Said Mortar, "But we still need to find Shadow Breeze a job as well."

"Oh, that's ok!" answered Twilight, a bright smile on her face, "Come back anytime you'd like to."

Twilight watched the four of them leave, and winked at Techorse as he closed the door behind him. But as soon as her guests were gone, Twilight wisked around and hurried over to a nearby bookshelf. Furiously searching, she took out a brown, well-worn book, and started flipping through the pages magically as fast as she could.

"Shadow amulet, shadow amulet…" she muttered as she searched.

* * *

Techorse brought the three of them back to his castle in order to discuss plans for helping Shadow Breeze figure out what positive tasks he could do with his talents. In his mind, he would make a good diplomat, but the road to being one was long and required a better education than what he had now. The inventor believed that the best idea was to simply tell him this, and give a list of places where he could go and study to become one. But when they returned to the stone fortress at the edge of town, they found a familiar face leaning up with his back against the door. It was Arbiter, waiting patiently for them to return. Relaxing from his pause against the door, the larger stallion put all four hooves on the dirt road in front of Techorse's home, and walked towards them.

"Well hello, Techorse." He said teasingly, "Glad to see you back, your robot told me to wait outside for you."

The three friends stopped behind Techorse, and tried to avoid Arbiter's remaining eye. The swordscolt caught on to this behavior and asked of them,

"Now, as for you three. Step forward."

Raider and Shadow Breeze boldly stepped in front of Techorse, then pulled up Mortar between them, who was lagging behind.

"Techorse, did these three complete their service?" he demanded to know, "What have they done?"

He answered, "They helped repaint Applejack's barn and weed her trees. Raider has learned that she's not a kleptomaniac, but instead has obsessive compulsive disorder, and is taking steps to counter it. I was just about to tell Shadow Breeze here a job he could do if he stops pulling pranks…"

Captain Arbiter smirked, and flapped his wings once sharply to get his cape straightened out.

"I see. Well it sounds like you've done quite enough, and I'm sure Shadow Breeze will be happy with whatever assignment you give him." He chuckled, "If that's all, they may go."

"So we're free?" asked Raider with hope sparkling in her eyes.

Arbiter had waited for this, and said, "I guess so. Of course, I _was_ going to offer you a special task that would not only reverse your status as pranksters, but also entitle you to something rather special, especially for civilians such as yourselves."

Techorse frowned, he knew Arbiter was up to something with that way of speaking and the look on his face, but he couldn't figure out what it was. Something in his gut told him, however, that it was going to involve him in some way.

"What kind of an entitlement?" asked Mortar.

Arbiter said with a happy tone, "Medals of course! Each of you will not only be considered good citizens of Equestria, but also heroes if you succeed in this task. Wouldn't you like to receive a medal for a job well done?"

The captain watched as each of the ponies in front of him agreed that indeed, a medal for doing something special would be a great accomplishment.

He thought to himself, "_Carrot…_"

"Of course." Arbiter said out loud, "If you choose not to… I will have to let Princess Celestia know you were just trying to get out of trouble as fast as possible. She's not going to like that one bit, I'm afraid."

_That_ froze them in their tracks, except for Techorse, who knew better. Dealing with Captain Arbiter might mean being locked up or getting a whipping, but Princess Celestia? It would be the end of them, in their minds.

"_Ha ha, and the stick!_" thought Arbiter, enjoying the brilliance of his plan.

"We… we'll do it!" said Raider, attempting to gain confidence.

Arbiter shut his eye, and smiled, before reaching into a bag tied around his belt. Pulling out a scroll, he turned it over to Techorse. The colt's saddle opened up, and his robot arms accepted the message. When he unrolled the scroll though, his coat seemed to turn a slightly paler shade of green.

On the scroll was a drawing of a blue-colored, four-headed hydra, with scale indicators at the side showing that it was estimated at 115 feet tall, and 50 feet across, an 80 foot long tail barbed with vertical scales of red color, and natural armor consisting of light blue scales woven throughout the monster's hide. Below was an order to move the creature to a new location, as it had been sighted a few dozen miles in a canyon near Cloudsdale. A merchant had gone through the area recently, and after nearly becoming a meal for the hydra, fled and told Princess Celestia about it. Because the canyon served as a trade route for several towns around the Cloudsdale area, the monster would have to be re-located. It would first need to be knocked unconscious before being magically transported to a cavern by the seaside, where it'd be able to live without being a threat.

"You want us to fight this thing?" asked Techorse with some level of panic, "Arbiter, this is insane! Are you trying to get us eaten?"

Arbiter answered slyly, "Techorse, old friend, with your technology I'm sure it'll be a piece of cake. That hydra is only two thirds the size of the one your marefriend ran into a while ago, so it will be far weaker. Plus, I know as well as you do that your weapons are good at not slaying things. You'll gauge just the amount of firepower necessary to knock it out, and then this teleportation rune I've had my cousin bring to me will move it to its new home."

Shadow Breeze hated violence, and gave Arbiter a nasty look before saying to him, "What if we say no? What if I don't want to fight this thing?"

Arbiter sighed and shook his head, "I guess I'll just have to do things… my way."

The sword that had been gifted to him by Techorse was removed from its sheath, and Arbiter stood there with the hilt in his mouth, as he'd left his magical gauntlets at home. Shadow Breeze's mouth opened slightly, and his expression changed to one of horror. It was bad enough that he'd have to fight the hydra, but if he didn't, Arbiter would dispose of it! Worst of all, the hydra was not as valuable as a pony's life, so Arbiter would be able to get away with it. Techorse and Shadow Breeze looked at each other, and knew that they had to stand up to Arbiter's plan.

"We'll deal with the hydra." Said Techorse, a little angry, "Just give me the rune, and we'll have it done by the end of the day."

Arbiter returned the sword to its blue sheath, and said, "I knew I could rely on Techorse and his new friends! Oh, and I wasn't lying about the medals, you'll receive them as soon as you've completed the task."

The captain of the guard threw the rune at his front hooves. It was a simple flat piece of flagstone, with an odd pattern resembling a warped ceiling fan on it. He then spread his wings, and took off into the blue sky of Ponyville, with only a few clouds to cover his exit.

* * *

Techorse wasted no time preparing for the mission. It would be extremely dangerous given both the hydra's carnivory and how territorial the creature was. He loaded into his battle saddle his trusty laser cannons, his missile launcher with 10 rounds of ammunition, and his turbofans. There'd be no need for his robotic arms, hopefully, and the other gadgets he had were more based around utility than offensive firepower. After he had prepared himself mentally and equipment-wise for the task, he led his new friends into a room he hadn't used in a long time. It contained a holographic table, which scanned document and created a 3D image of them in the air above it. The table itself was a small stand, with a blue grid of glowing projector wires crisscrossed along the top of it. The rest of the room itself was empty, save for an electrical light switch. Holograms were the most visible when it was dark, and the room had no distractions. After placing Arbiter's orders on the table, he pushed a few buttons with his hooves, and the three ponies in front of the table oohed as the table constructed a 3D hydra from the drawing on the scroll.

Techorse pointed to it and said, "This 3D image gives us a way to plan our attack. In order to knock out the hydra, I've loaded half of my missiles with a sleeping gas. I need you three to stand in places where you'll be safe from strikes by the heads, while I come up from behind and drop the gas onto each of them. Once all of the heads have fallen asleep, we're going to use the rune Arbiter gave us to teleport it to its new beachside home."

"But what should we do to distract it?" asked Raider, "Honestly Techorse, I do _not_ want to look tasty!"

"We may have no choice but to fight it." Techorse sighed, "But hopefully we won't cause any permanent harm."

Pressing another button, the hologram disappeared from view, and the lights in the room brightened again.

"Let's take an hour break or so, and then we'll head out." Suggested Techorse.

Mortar nodded, "Sounds good."

"Great! See you back here in an hour."

* * *

The three friends left the castle, and decided to split up for their break, doing what they wanted to do the most. They were all a little worried this could be their last time of recreation. Shadow Breeze ended up wandering downtown by himself, and despite the warmth of the day, he wasn't having very pleasant thoughts run through his head. Some of the residents of Ponyville looked away from their shopping and felt pity for Shadow Breeze as he trudged along, a metaphorical storm cloud over his head. He reached a small gardening store, filled with potted plants of all kinds, and decided to spend time enjoying his hobby of botany. There were lush emerald ferns planted in terra cotta pots, beautiful flowers of all colors and scents, and even a handful of marsh plants grown hydroponically in metal buckets of various sizes. Next to the display of plants were tools used to aide in growing them, shovels and rakes alike.

While Shadow Breeze looked over the flora and attempted to focus his mind on happy thoughts, a timid mare walked up from an angle where she wouldn't be seen so easily, and also started to browse the same plants. It was Fluttershy, out on a shopping trip to purchase a new fern to replace one that had shriveled up over the summer. She browsed over one particular variety of the seedless plants, when she lost track of space and accidentally knocked over a rake. Down came the tool's long wooden handle, right between Shadow Breeze's ears and onto his head

_THWACK_

Fluttershy put a hoof up to her mouth in horror at her mistake, and gasped, "Oh my! I'm sorry. Are you ok?"

Shadow Breeze rubbed his head after removing the rake, and hoped that the impact wouldn't leave a lump.

"Yeah, I'm fine." He said, rather grumpy.

Fluttershy was not convinced she had been forgiven, "Are you sure? Will you be ok?"

Shadow Breeze watched as the shopkeeper picked up the rake and put it back in place, while suspiciously eyeing them as if they were going to break things.

He then returned his attention to Fluttershy and said, "I'll be fine. I'm just a little grumpy because I have to go fight an animal this afternoon, and I hate fighting."

The yellow pegasus smiled and said softly, "Oh, I hate fighting too! You know you don't have to fight, right? There's always another way to solve problems, especially with animals."

"Well, I'm sorry." Answered Shadow, "But I do have to fight it, to try and knock it out so we can give it a new home. If I don't, Captain Arbiter will… slay it."

When Fluttershy heard who was responsible for making this new acquaintance have to fight, she became concerned, "Now I know Arbiter can be very mean, and it makes it seem like there's only two choices. But there's a way to not hurt that animal, whatever it is. Sometimes all an animal needs is a little love."

Shadow Breeze introduced himself, "My name is Shadow Breeze. I'm here in Ponyville to make up for a few mistakes I've made, and I'm working with Techorse to do that."

"I know Techorse." She said, "He's a good pony. Is he having to fight too?"

"I'm afraid so." Sighed the darker of the two pegasi, "By the way, what's your name?"

A meek reply came, "Oh… It's, it's Fluttershy…"

"It's nice to meet you, Fluttershy. So, I take it that you like to take care of animals?" he asked.

Fluttershy answered, "Yes, very much. It's a long story though, too long for most ponies."

"Well, I have a thing for plants, and you have a thing for animals." He said, "We could trade stories, and then I'll head back to see Techorse."

"Um, maybe some other time, ok?" said Fluttershy, backing away, "I need to go… do something."

She walked away slowly from him, leaving him looking at the plants. He was hoping to make another friend.

"_Oh well._" He thought, "_Who'd want me for a friend anyways…_"

Fluttershy could pick up on his hurt, and looked down on the ground in shame. She didn't want to have a lengthy conversation with someone she had known for two minutes, that'd be scary. But it was more important for her to be kind to others than to try and satisfy her somewhat irrational worries. She turned around slowly, and went back to Shadow Breeze, who looked up at her rather surprised.

"It's just that, right now is not a very good time." She said, not making eye contact, "But if, you wanted to talk later about plants and animals, that'd be ok. I'll be at Sugarcube Corner this weekend, to have tea with a friend. You can join us, if that fits your schedule."

"I'd love to!" he answered, hoping to make more friends in Ponyville.

"Ok, I'll see you later then… Shadow Breeze." She said, walking backwards before turning around and picking up her speed. She had completely forgotten her fern from the buildup of stress over the social situation.

"Hey buddy…" said a rather concerned voice. Shadow Breeze turned to meet an unhappy shopkeeper, a grey earth pony with a black handlebar mustache and mane,

"Sorry about the rake bashing you. Now I'd hate to have to pay any medical bills, so…"

"Don't worry, it's just a bruise." Assured Shadow Breeze.

"Good, Good. So, talking with Miss Fluttershy eh?" he asked, "She comes by here to get plants for the umpteen-million pets she has. She might be a little weird, but she's right, if you show a creature a little care, it usually will respond with care."

"You wouldn't happen to have a plant that calms reptiles down, would you?" asked Shadow Breeze, hoping for some hydra nip.

"No, don't stock that kind of a plant." He answered, "But if it's a reptile you're fighting, those things can get pretty aggressive if they don't have a spouse. Give 'em a spouse and _boom_, no more aggression."

"I guess that makes some sense." Shadow Breeze said, "Thanks so much…"

"Mr. Pottenturf." Answered the earth pony, "My wife and I own the greenhouse outside of town, so you drop by anytime, and we'll let you look over the plants when you want. I heard you tell Fluttershy you're a plant lover, and I want to make up for the whole rake incident here…"

He muttered under his breath, "Among other incidents concerning Fluttershy and my greenhouse."

"Sound good?" he said, brightening up.

"Of course! Thanks sir." Answered the pegasus, "Now I've got to get back to Techorse's castle, I have an idea thanks to you."

"Good luck!" called Mr. Pottenturf as Shadow ran off, "You're gonna need it, kid."

* * *

Once Shadow Breeze had gotten back the castle, he found out quickly that he had been late for about ten minutes, as his friends had already gathered their supplies and tied the saddlebags containing them around their middles.

"Hey, there you are!" said Mortar, "We were starting to get worried about you."

"Everything's fine." He assured them, "In fact, I have an idea as to how we're going to deal with the hydra."

Raider shook her head, "Let's just stick with Techorse's plan, and use the sleeping gas he has loaded into his saddle there."

Shadow Breeze frowned, but agreed reluctantly that he should go along with the original plan. Techorse, wanting to be a good friend, offered,

"Hey, if anything goes wrong, Shadow, we can try your plan. For now though, we have to get to the canyon. I've put its coordinates into my self-teleporter, and I have a copy of the device for each of us."

Techorse passed around the bulky silver boxes, each one containing a simple red activation button and several dials used to input coordinates.

"All right, on three, we all push the buttons." Instructed Techorse, "One, two… three!"

Each of the ponies depressed the red button on their control, and with a heavy sound of electronic energy, a cyclone of blue light engulfed each one of them, and they disappeared. When they re-materialized, they found themselves just a few miles away from the canyon, and could even make out the city of Cloudsdale in the distance above them. The grassy plain Techorse had chosen for coordinates would allow them to sneak up on their enemy from behind, as the Hydra had ambushed the merchant from the other side of the huge ravine. It was a cuprous formation, being rather red in color and rocky. A perfect place for a giant reptile to live in relative peace. Unfortunately, snacking on passersby was not acceptable, so it had to be relocated. Raider felt her heart in her throat as she and her three friends proceeded down a carved-out slope meant to allow carts to enter and exit the canyon.

Not only was the air dry, but the sun was beating down on the ravine, the teleportation had also left them dizzy and somewhat struggling to regain their thoughts as they proceeded down the shallow dirt path down into the canyon basin. Once they had reached the bottom after a good half hour of walking, their hooves were getting sore and their mouths were getting dried out. They stopped to have a drink of water once they had exited the ramp, and then they proceeded with great caution through the twisting ravine. It was at least one thousand feet high on each side, and yet was rather wide, making it unlikely the natural structure was on a fault line. Several small animals that would normally find home in a mountain area were living in the place, including insects of many varieties and small animals such as rabbits, who fed on the vegetation. Many of the creatures were hiding inside their homes, however, staring out at the ponies with fear in their eyes. Techorse observed this and new exactly what the animals were afraid of.

* * *

The team reached a turn in the walls of the canyon, and after looking ahead, Techorse knew he'd located the hydra. Motioning for the others to follow him, they carefully walked around the corner, and found the beast watching the other ramp leading out of the canyon like a hawk. Each of its four heads scanned the area, just waiting for another merchant to come by. The area itself seemed almost like an arena, a circular cut in the ravine with a few small caves dotted along the ground.

"All right." Whispered Techorse, "I'm going to sneak around to the other side, you three need to stay as far away as possible and distract it!"

"Got it!" replied Mortar.

The green colt moved away from his friends, and hugged the right wall of the canyon, edging slowly towards the monster. He gave the mental command for his saddle to load the first set of missiles into his launcher, and prepared to attack with them from behind once his friends had gotten the beast to turn around and focus on them. But unfortunately, as many well-thought out plans tended to go, it backfired. The rightmost head of the hydra turned and spotted Techorse creeping along the wall, and he had made eye contact with the creature. The head gave a loud hissing sound, and its three siblings concentrated their attention on him.

"Oh no!" shouted Techorse, drawing his laser cannons.

He opened fire, and streams of yellow bolts of energy flew out from the weapons. Blasts struck against the hydra's necks and body, blasting away scales and scorching the surface of its skin. The monster roared and charged for Techorse on its two legs, leaving indents in the soft ground behind it. Of course, although the bolts of destructive electromagnetic energy were inflicting harm, they weren't going to do enough damage to completely take down a hydra. Yet still, the stinging of the projectiles seemed to be slowing it down, and making it think the brown-maned pony in front of it might not be such an easy meal to pick up. The colossal reptile had reached within striking distance of Techorse, and he switched as fast as he could to his turbofans to attempt to dodge anything thrown at him. Each of the heads lunged for him simultaneously, and Techorse jumped, then with the sound of helicopter blades, the fans carried him up over the heads, and onto the back of the Hydra's second neck. He slid down the monster's back, and took off again half way down, flying at an angle to make sure he didn't head directly back for the rest of his team.

The Hydra's heads all impacted the stone wall of the canyon, likely removing a few more of whatever small number of brain cells it possessed. After recovering from the missed attempt at snapping up Techorse, they seemed to quarrel amongst themselves for a second, before turning around to scan for him. The mighty tail swished, grating along the wall behind it and kicking up red dirt clouds that clogged the lungs.

Techorse was standing in a battle-ready pose to the Hydra's right, and he switched to his missile launcher. Two platforms slid out from the inside of the machine, each one sporting a small red-colored missile. Looking straight at the beast's second head, he opened fire, and the pair of missiles broke free from their racks and streamed for the monster. The projectiles impacted the head, and to Techorse's shock, they exploded, knocking the head backwards and shrouding it with smoke.

"I forgot to switch to the sleeping gas rounds when I left the castle…" he said slowly, "Well… that's going to make it mad…'

Sure enough, when the smoke had settled, the Hydra's injured head was furious, and of course the others were obligated to share in the rage. Each of them spat a stream of boiling hot poison from glands located underneath their bottom fangs, and the purple goo streamed out towards Techorse. He rolled away to dodge the venom, and it splashed in front of him, soaking the ground and making it sizzle as it ate away at the ground, showing how potent it was.

"_I don't want to know what'll happen if I get hit by that!_" he thought to himself.

A stone sailed through the air, and struck the Hydra's side, gaining its attention. It stared down angrily at the three ponies to its left, and turned to face them, stomping the ground. Raider, Mortar, and Shadow Breeze looked up at the monster. Then, with a lift of her front leg, Raider pointed to Mortar and said,

"He did it."

Mortar gave Raider a look of contempt, before looking back at the Hydra and deciding it was the perfect time to flee. The three ran and flew away as fast as their legs or wings could carry them, although Shadow and Mortar had no intent of flying up and leaving poor Raider to be devoured. The monster gave chase, roaring and spitting more streams of venom. The splashes of purple all-dissolving liquid were missing wildly, but the threat of it kept the three running. Eventually, they reached a small cave in the wall of the canyon, and ran inside to hide.

This distraction had provided a perfect opportunity for Techorse to attack. Since he had forgotten the sleeping gas entirely, he decided his best bet was to knock each head unconscious with the force of his remaining conventional missiles. Since they were plastic and shrapnel free, it wouldn't leave any lasting damage, although the pockmarks from his lasers were likely to leave the Hydra with missing patches of scales for a few weeks. Techorse's missile launchers returned, freshly reloaded with another set of explosives. Aiming again, this time for the spaces between the first and third heads, he figured a blast in those exact spots would knock out all the heads at once. Firing, the missiles screeched before traveling on the path their owner had intended for them, but unfortunately, the Hydra had heard the noise. The third head turned nearly 180 degrees, and ordered the others to duck. The long, flexible necks bent downwards, and in an impressive display of intelligence, the missiles sailed past it and off into the distance, where they exploded harmlessly against a boulder.

Another full about face brought the oversized lizard back to focusing on Techorse. This time, he panicked, and started to blast away with his laser guns again. More impacts and small energy explosions dotted the monster, but this time, it was not going to give up. It reach Techorse, and prepared to strike once more. He panicked, and rapidly the guns disappeared into his saddle to be replaced by the fans, but before he could do so, the monster swung its tail, and the appendage wrapped around Techorse, then flipped him upside down. Yelling in fear, Techorse tried to bring out anything to help him, but the tail's muscles were strong, and squeezed around his saddle so tightly he could hear the internal components start to strain. The hydra then brought its tail up, and, being careful to use exactly the right amount of force, bumped Techorse's head into the ground. The earth pony fell unconscious, and its capturer flipped him over, holding him tightly in the light blue tail. Each of the Hydra's heads gave each other a congratulatory smirk, but also shared enough thoughts to know Techorse wouldn't be enough meat for the four of them. There were still three other ponies to catch.

Those three particular ponies had witnessed Tech get his proverbial lights knocked out, and tried their hardest not to scream.

"Techorse!" cried Raider.

The Hydra approached the hole in the wall of its home, and attempted to snake one of its heads in to retrieve the other tasty morsels. Unfortunately, the entrance to the small cave was very short, but Shadow Breeze had a good look at one of the heads! Its reptilian yellow eyes seems to burn with pure hatred, but were those long eyelashes on them? Shadow Breeze noticed the feature, and realized that his plan from earlier would worked perfectly, given that Arbiter had told the truth earlier about Hydras.

"Oh what are we going to do?" panicked Raider, "It has Techorse, and it has us trapped. I don't want to be Hydra food!"

Mortar imagined the terrible scene in his head, each of the four of them being popped into a maw alive and screaming. It was a stupid mistake to think they could take on the task they had been assigned, and now, he was going to learn what the inside of a Hydra's stomach looked like.

"Man, I'd rather go back to Arbiter's jail cell than be stuck here." He said, sitting down, "But I guess we can't last in here forever. We'd better just step out and…"

In the darkness of the cave, Shadow Breeze may have been hard to see, but he still spoke rather loudly,

"Now listen guys. I have an idea that'll save Techorse. We have to leave the cave all at once, slowly, and not panic."

"I guess we have no choice." Sighed Mortar, "It's been really fun being your guys' friends."

"If this works you can still be our friends!" stated Shadow Breeze.

The three exited the cave one hoof at a time, and as they thought, each of the heads lunged for them as soon as they egressed.

Shadow Breeze then shouted, "Wait!"

The monster stopped and stared at the ponies as if to say, "Now what?"

"I noticed you didn't have a nest when I walked in here." Said the graphite peagsus to the beast, "Maybe I just didn't see it, but, shouldn't you feed us to your young? Don't they come first?"

Like most creatures in Equestria, the Hydra had a limited ability to understand what ponies were saying, and understood Shadow's statement as a comment on their lack of nest. The monster was reminded that it had no one to spend life with, and the heads began to look rather somber about the fact.

"You mean, you don't have any young?" asked Raider sympathetically, playing along, "Oh, poor thing!"

"No wonder you were so upset." Added Mortar.

Shadow Breeze continued, "I figured it out, you're a lady Hydra. I noticed your eyelashes when you were staring at us, and Techorse hadn't seen a Hydra spit poison before. Now, I know you really, really think you want to do all four of us in, but what you really are, is lonely!"

The amulet around his neck sparkled with red energy, before a beam of shadow energy extended from it, and touched the wall of the canyon behind the Hydra. It observed as the pegasus manipulated the darkness to create the image of another hydra, about as big as Arbiter had described it.

"This is a shadow of another hydra we have near Ponyville." Shadow Breeze explained, "Also lonely, also angry because of it. It's even got four heads, just like you, sot here's no fighting. We have a home for you two planned by the seashore. If you trust us and promise not to eat us, we'll give you a husband so you can finally build your nest!"

The creature, stunned by the incredible offer to set it up with another Hydra, consulted itself before all nodding with a unanimous decision. Its tail moved around gently, and deposited the hurt Techorse back with the other three ponies. He opened his blue eyes gently, his head pounding from the impact, and he looked up at his friends.

"What happened?" he asked groggily, "Did you beat him?"

"Her." Answered Shadow Breeze, smiling, "And no, we didn't fight. We settled it like civilized reptiles!"

Techorse looked back at the creature, who still seemed to have a bit of hate directed towards him. After all, he did cause it a good deal of pain with his weapons, a rather mean thing to do.

"I still think it doesn't trust me." He said nervously, "Probably still upset over me forgetting to use the sleep missiles."

"Don't worry, she won't hurt you. She promised!" said Mortar, "But we do need to ask you for a favor…"

"Well, what did you have in mind?" asked Techorse.

* * *

With the help of PAL and a delivery rocket from the castle, the brand new heavy teleporter device was ready. It was simply a much larger version of the personal teleporters Techorse had made for one pony. Using the large device, they successfully managed to teleport themselves and the Hydra to a location just outside of Ponyville. There they found Captain Arbiter and Twilight Sparkle in a yelling match.

"I can't believe you made Techorse go out to fight a Hydra! Are you nuts?" screamed Twilight, firing off a pellet of magical energy from her horn.

Captain Arbiter, holding his new sword with his magical gauntlets, raised the blade and successfully used it to deflect the bolt away from him.

"He was going to put it to sleep from a safe range, and then use my family's special rune to transport it to the seaside!" he said, "I'm sure he has it under control."

The Hydra was nearly hidden behind Techorse's castle, and watched the battle between Twilight and Arbiter eagerly, enjoying the argument. It gave a happy cry, which startled them both into looking at it. Twilight shrieked, and Captain Arbiter brought his blade into a ready stance, spreading his wings in case he had to attack.

"Surprise!" said Shadow Breeze, stepping out from behind the Hydra's leg, "We managed to get it to listen to us!"

"_**And you brought it here to Ponyville?**_" shouted Twilight, her mane hair going in many directions from shock and stress, "It's going to make an all-you-can-eat buffet out of us!"

"No it's not!" said Techorse, walking up next to him, "Apparently the Hydra you sent us after, Arby, is a female who'd very much like to start a nest. We made a deal. If she agrees to move to the seaside peacefully, we'll introduce her to our friend down at Froggybottom Bog."

Twilight suddenly realized what was going on and said, "Oh… So, she's not going to eat us?"

"Nope!" assured Raider, "This girl's just looking for a dedicated husband."

"Just like Mr. Pottenturf said." Shadow Breeze finished.

"Well what if they don't like each other? Hydras aren't smart enough to understand…" complained Arbiter.

The Hydra bent its heads down, and eight yellow eyes glared at Arbiter. He may have been good with his sword, but he wasn't sure if the rumors about cutting off heads were true.

The captain cleared his throat, and said, "Then again… the other hydra in question has not seen a female in years, perhaps it'll be love at first sight!"

"Let's go get Fluttershy and see what we can do." Suggested Twilight.

After finding Fluttershy and spending a good hour convincing her to come out of her home and see the Hydra, she led them out to the bog, which was now covered in warning signs indicating the presence of the yellow one living there. The mud of the bog sat rather still for now save for the sulfur bubbles that rose occasionally, and the sound of whining insect wings could be heard. The movement of the ponies caused the mud to stir, and several yellow spots were seen moving in the mud, before the occupant burst out of the grime.

The Hydra of the bog, just as he had been left earlier, recognized his earlier adversaries, and each of the four heads stared down angrily. Techorse drew his laser cannons and pointed them upwards, but Fluttershy waved her wing at him, an order to stand down. Of course, the Hydra would have thought about striking, if it weren't for the female looking at him. Four pairs of eyes met four pairs of eyes, and the male rose out of the mud to meet the newcomer. After looking over each other carefully, as if having known all along what to do, the four heads on each Hydrea twisted necks with their opposites. They gazed on each other, all heads smiling in agreement that they'd make a good match as far as gigantic monsters go.

"Aw, isn't that sweet?" cooed Fluttershy, "He has a soft spot after all."

Twilight Sparkle nudged Arbiter with her leg, and the stallion stepped forward, a magic rune in each floating metal hand.

"These will put you by the seashore, in a nice cave meant for Hydras. You'll be able to enjoy all the fish you can eat, and unlike ponies, they don't fight back. As Captain of the Guard, I wish you luck with your new family."

Arbiter walked over to the two creatures, and attached a rune to each of their tails, then, he pressed each one with his gauntlets, activating the magical energy stored in the stones. A column of blue light wrapped around each of the reptiles, and then they were gone, taken away to their new cave by the shore.

"That was easy!" Stated Mortar.

Twilight wrapped a leg around her pale yellow friend and said, "It's like Fluttershy here always said. All an animal needs is some love!"

"That's true." Said Fluttershy humbly, "But, to be honest Twilight, I didn't think it was going to work that quickly. I thought they'd end up living here until we made them leave."

"Oh nonsense!" laughed Twilight, "Beachfront property is worth so much more than a dirty old bog."

Captain Arbiter was caught slowly walking away from the group, when Techorse said, "Speaking of worth, I think Captain Arbiter was just about to award my friends here some medals."

The pegasus's ears dropped back in annoyance, but he turned around and confronted them anyways.

"Oh, what the hay." He said, putting a triumphant look on his face, "You went above and beyond the requirements I gave you. To back out now would be cheating."

Captain Arbiter reached into the bag still connected to his belt, and pulled out three small silver medals, each one in the shape of a star superimposed on an octagonal base. The ribbon supporting each one was green in color, and Arbiter slipped each one over the necks of the three recipients.

"For your efforts, you are not only cleared of your crimes, but I, Captain Arbiter Axechop, award you the silver star for bravery." He said, rather rehearsed, but sincere.

After the medals had hung on their owner's necks for a while, Mortar was the first to speak up.

"I guess I'm going to go back home and get to work on my cartoonist career now." He said.

Raider nodded, "I can get to work as well, being a decorator's going to be great!"

Captain Arbiter nodded in approval, and then turned his attention to Shadow Breeze.

"What sort of improved life did you come up with?" he asked.

Shadow breeze looked at Techorse, then back to the Captain before answering, "If possible, I'd like to get an apartment here in Ponyville, and study diplomacy. I bet I'd make a great diplomat someday, especially after what happened here!"

"I concur." Said Arbiter, who then turned his attention to Twilight, "Miss Sparkle, please assist Shadow Breeze in enrolling in Princess Celestia's program for politics and diplomacy. We'll pay him a stipend for his studies to allow him to continue living here."

"That sounds great!" said Twilight, "Also, Shadow, about your amulet there. It turns out when I researched it that those things can sometimes get cursed if left alone for too long. You probably had the urge to play all those pranks because of the negative energy it was giving off. If you give it to me, I'll undo the curse for you."

"Of course, glad to finally know what was wrong with me!" He said, breathing a sigh of relief.

Taking off the amulet with a hoof, Shadow Breeze let the jewlery fall to the ground gently. Twilight's horn glowed a soft purple as the object floated over to her. Then, closing her eyes and with a good deal of concentration, a blue stream of energy connected her horn to the object, making it glow softly. One the process was complete, Twilight opened her eyes, and returned the amulet to its resting place around Shadow Breeze's neck.

"There, that ought to do it!" she said proudly, "But if it makes you act up again, come and see me!"

Shadow Breeze nodded, and then looked to his friends. Raider and Mortar, standing off to the side, were looking back at him with a bit of sadness in their eyes.

"I'm going to miss you guys." He said to them, "Take care back home."

"We'll write." Promised Raider, "And we'll visit sometime too, Shadow!"

* * *

The three hugged goodbye, and then, Captain Arbiter led them away to take them back home. The others headed back for Fluttershy's house to celebrate with a hot cup of tea. As they walked back, Twilight and Fluttershy walked together ahead, while Techorse and Shadow Breeze were behind to talk.

"Glad you're staying here in Ponyville." Said Techorse, a broad grin on his face, "It was great working with you."

"Come on Techorse, we're friends now, we've got to be!" said Shadow Breeze, "We've got a lot in common, you know. Plus, I did save your life. Don't you think that means something?"

"Yeah, of course it does!" answered the inventor, "Drop by the castle sometime and we can play a board game."

"I'll take you up on that!" he answered, stopping.

Shadow Breeze turned to Techorse and raised his hoof. He stopped, and looked at the friendly leg, knowing what to do. Bringing his hoof up as well, he met Shadow Breeze's in an Equestrian greeting of friendship. The hooves impacted together, and then rested back on the ground, before they laughed.

"Looks like Techorse has a new friend!" said Twilight happily, "It'll be great for him to have some more stallions around."

"Oh yes." Agreed Fluttershy.

After a few moments, she asked, "Um, Twilight… do you think Arbiter is getting a bit nicer?"

"He sure is." Agreed Twilight, "Maybe he still does some really crazy stuff, but hey, don't we all?"

The two mares sat silently for a moment before snickering about their own bouts of craziness. As they walked back home with the stallions behind them, they were happy to have made a new friend in Shadow Breeze. It was always great to have a new face around Ponyville, especially one interested in peace.

The End


End file.
